I have a feeling this question will have a super obvious answer that I'm just not thinking of, but here goes.

A year later and I still need to get my bed fixed. ...Where do I go to get this done? The people who moved us out broke both the headboard and the foot board (and stole a box of games, but I digress) and the people who moved us in gave me suggestions but uh, I don't want to make it worse. And I don't even think we'd have the tools anymore. But dammit, it was always my dream bed and I want it to be usable again. That and the various pieces are really in the way._________________Way to kill the conversation, Patty.- Trevor

Joined: 13 Jul 2006Posts: 2055Location: On the sunny side of the street

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 8:37 pm Post subject:

Like, removing the headboard? I think that sort of thing can be done with simple screwdriver or with socket wrench._________________WARNING: Microwave musclebear detection devices in use on these premises!

No, not removing the headboard. The bed is already in pieces, as that's how it transports. Ummm but it's sort of hard to explain without showing it. But it's almost as if they smashed it against something when putting it in the truck._________________Way to kill the conversation, Patty.- Trevor

No, not removing the headboard. The bed is already in pieces, as that's how it transports. Ummm but it's sort of hard to explain without showing it. But it's almost as if they smashed it against something when putting it in the truck.

Maybe a photo of what's not right would help.

I'm familiar with about three common ways that beds are put together; there's connecting the rails to the headboard and footboard with bed bolts, often something like this:

And then there's some matching hanger hardware that slides and locks the rails in place, often like this:

And then there's just plain bolts and nuts to hold a headboard or footboard onto a hollywood frame, like so:

So, how to fix it and who can help depends a bit on how it's supposed to be, and what's not right. Broken or missing hardware can often be replaced with a trip to Home Depot and a bit of work with screwdriver or pliers and maybe a drill or some wood glue. Every house ought to have some of those tools - you can get a perfectly cromulent set like this for about $8 from IKEA:
If you need a drill, check with your neighbors; if they have one, they'd probably let you borrow it.

If things are more substantially broken, and some actual woodworking is required, then often furniture stores can fix things; One summer in my youth, I worked for a high-end furniture place, and we'd fix customer furniture, usually for free. (If you charged ten grand for some fancy item, there's generally a lot of margin to pay for repairs and customer good will.) Some repairs could be done on the spot, and others we'd go fetch the problem piece and bring it back to the shop. I'm guessing your bed is not something from a fancy manufacturer, and you're probably a couple thousand miles from the place that sold it, so a local shop would want some money, and in my experience, it's often a substantial fraction of the value of the piece. So I wouldn't do that unless you really want to.

So, post a picture. Got a phone with a camera? A laptop with a webcam?_________________The reward for a good life is a good life.

I took some pictures but they're not very good. Also, I can't easily get to the footboard at the moment. That being said, the problem with one is that, it's like the one in the first picture and the bolt going into the bedpost is very stripped. The mover suggested drilling in a larger hole and using a larger bolt but I don't trust myself to do that.

On the footboard, it's actually missing a chunk of wood. Sort of by where the nut is, like in the first picture? Question mark because it's been awhile since I've looked closely at it.

A frontal view of the problem with the headboard:

The bottom hole is the one with the stripped bolt. Obviously not a great shot (see?!):

Tomorrow or Wednesday I'll try to take out the footboard and get some pictures of that and better ones of the headboard. In theory._________________Way to kill the conversation, Patty.- Trevor

That's informative, yes. So, the bed was moved when it was still assembled, and it got whacked so a couple of the bolts got pulled partway through the posts, or maybe pulled out of the rails? I'd call that a botched move, for sure.

When you look in the little hole (if you can, maybe with a flashlight) do you see the head of the bolt, or is it the end where a nut and maybe a washer are supposed to go? If it's the head end of a bolt, what shape is it, and does it have a slot for a screwdriver in it, or maybe a hole for a hex wrench? And what does the other end of the bolt look like, the end that goes into the rail?

I don't know how accessible this is for you, so you may not be able to answer if it would involve removing mattress and box springs, but here are some common possibilities:

A hex or square-head bolt in the post hole connected to a hex or square nut in the rail:

A hex-head bolt (or a flat-head bolt with a hole for a hex driver) in the post hole connected to a dowel-nut in the rail:

Any sort of head, often something with a screwdriver slot or hex driver hole, connecting to a half-moon nut or curved metal plate in a hole in the rail:

Possibly a hanger bolt screwed right into the end of the rail (unlikely, but who knows):

There are some others, but they're even less common.

For the missing bit of wood, the answer will depend a bit on what's missing and what it did. I'll speak to that if you get another picture.

Anyhow, my suggestion is going to be similar for all of them; it's just a matter of what hardware you'll want to get at the store. You'll want to push the posts back into place and remove the offending bolts. I realize this is easier said than done. You might need to find someone with a socket set to undo them. IF they're hanger bolts, then... ugh. Good luck.

If the problem is that the bolts were stripped out of the nuts in the rails, then you'll want to get new bolts and nuts that match the existing ones, and replace them. Fairly straightforward.

If the problem is that the bolts got dragged halfway through the posts, then you'll need to get new bolts, about half an inch longer than the originals but otherwise the same diameter and thread pitch, along with fender washers maybe an inch in diameter that just fit on the bolts. Then you'll replace the bolts, with the fender washers holding them in place on the outside of the posts. It's not going to be as pretty as the inset and covered bolts, but if the inside of the post is ripped out, that's pretty much your simplest option. It will wind up looking a bit like the second picture above, only with a larger washer.

When the bolts are replaced, you can tighten everything down and the bed won't wobble and scare you.

When you find out more, I can be a bit more specific. I think that most likely this repair is something you and another family member can manage by yourselves. It usually takes two people, one to do the turning of nuts and bolts, and another to hold the furniture parts in place, but it's not especially demanding of strength or unusual skill._________________The reward for a good life is a good life.

My idea of a perfect wedding - and this has never really been tested with a woman willing to marry me - is a practically non-existent (and thus cheap) ceremony and then spend whatever money I have on the reception. Less spectacle, more party. That's how I roll.

I don't know if it made the ceremony part less expensive, since we got married at a "venue" where we had both the ceremony and the reception immediately after, but when Mz. Love and I got married, we had a very brief ceremony, with the emphasis on a party to celebrate afterwards. The ceremony was outdoors. It was less than 15 minutes from when the JOP stepped out to when the whole party had returned inside. I think some of our guests were a little confused.

I also changed the ceremony from the traditional arrangement of the officiant facing the guests so that he had his back to the guests and we faced them. I always found it odd to go to weddings to see two people I know getting married, and they have their backs to me the whole time, while I'm looking at some person I don't know._________________The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
- Charles Darwin

Does anyone know if you can just rent a nice evening gown and act like it's a wedding dress? I don't really want to buy one, they're so expensive for something you wear for a day, but a lot of the rentable wedding dresses are so... meh.

My sister and mom are acting like it's a HUGE deal that I should get a wedding dress but pff. I ain't made o' money.

Stalk some designers on places like Etsy. My wife got a $2,500 wedding dress for little over $200. less than 10% of the original price, I didn't forget a zero.

patty, did you hire movers? because i think there should be something that makes them liable for damage done. when i moved, they had me look my stuff over when they were done and sign something that said i'd looked at stuff and nothing was broken.

that being said, i'm sorry to hear about the bed. it seems like such a basic thing until you don't actually have a bed...i finally have one after like 2 years of a mattress on a floor and i'd be pissed if some mover fucked it up. _________________

Does anyone know if you can just rent a nice evening gown and act like it's a wedding dress? I don't really want to buy one, they're so expensive for something you wear for a day, but a lot of the rentable wedding dresses are so... meh.

My sister and mom are acting like it's a HUGE deal that I should get a wedding dress but pff. I ain't made o' money.

Stalk some designers on places like Etsy. My wife got a $2,500 wedding dress for little over $200. less than 10% of the original price, I didn't forget a zero.

Interesting. I have ordered from Etsy and it was great. I might do so.

Edit: Dangit Ded, I fell in love with the first fancy dress I saw. I blame you._________________www.cobrasphinx.nl

Last edited by Yinello on Tue Sep 03, 2013 8:09 am; edited 1 time in total